Abstract
Background: Chloride Intracellular Channels (CLICs) are responsible for the regulation of multiple cellular functions. CLICs have been found over-expressed in several malignancies, and therefore they are currently considered as potential as drug targets.
Aim: The main goal of our study was to assess the gene expression levels of CLIC’s 1-5 in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) as compared to healthy controls.
Methods: We used gene expression data from the Oncomine Cancer Microarray database (http://www.oncomine.org/) comparing malignant pleural mesothelioma versus healthy tissue in order to investigate the differential expression profile of CLIC 1-5. The gene expression data were log transformed, median centered per array, and the standard deviation was normalized to one per array. Gene expression was considered to be significantly over- or under- expressed when p<0.05 comparing MPM vs. healthy controls.
Results: In MPM, the gene expression of CLIC3 and CLIC4 was significantly increased compared to controls (p=0.0014 and p=0.0005 respectively). On the contrary, there was no significant difference in the gene expression of CLIC1, CLIC2 and CLIC5. We also found a significant positive correlation between the gene expression of CLIC3 and CLIC4 (p=0.0016 and Spearman’s ρ= 0.48). Deming regression analysis revealed significant positive association (p=0.0008) between the gene expression of CLIC3 and CLIC4 given by the following equation: CLIC4 = 4.42 CLIC3–10.1.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that CLIC3 and CLIC4 are over-expressed in human MPM. The prognostic value of CLIC3 and CLIC4 requires further investigation.
- © 2013 ERS